Been a while since I posted, and I haven’t really got time to write a full post (dinner beckons) but thought I should post whilst I have the energy and don’t need a post-dinner nap. Here’s some jottings:

1. My wife’s jewellery site is live and blogging, with the shop opening properly on Thursday. It’s an exciting new venture, small at present, but we could both end up working at home someday soon.
2. Windows Vista was launched today, gave me the impetus to get my snark-fest, Apple propaganda Apple Heaven site running again – been way too long.
3. Trying to work out exactly what I should be doing with MyBlogLog profile and whether I’ll end up spending too much time looking at other people’s websites that have looked at mine. And annoyed that I can’t think of a decent place to put the widgets on this page – no real sidebar.
4. Concerned that the Safari browser on both my Macs (one Intel, one PowerPC) is sluggish and irritating at times, particularly on Movable Type editing screens, but also elsewhere. Done all the usual stuff, still irritating. Grr.
5. Wondering just where the time goes – seem to get busier and busier. Also wondering what Shiny Media’s $4.5m deal will mean for me. Something, hopefully. More exciting niche stuff.
6. Wanting to invest much more in Blue Fish Network, particularly the people, but not always knowing the best way to connect up, and aware of spreading and thinness becoming a problem. But I love the guys in the network, even the ones that go AWOL from time to time.

That’s it for now. I’ll probably think of some other things as soon as I’ve hit ‘Publish’ but there you go.

Jade Goody appeared on ITV’s This Morning show today. Fern Britten asked her why she was taking part in so many interviews, in a way that suggested she wasn’t happy for the ex-Big Brother housemate to be on the sofa opposite her.

Well, you know Fern, it’s VERY simple – if you don’t want her, don’t interview her.

She’s done her News of the World interview, and I think we’ve had enough of her now. The only small mercy is that the cash that comes her way from all this publicity is going to be split between two charities chosen by her and Shilpa.

Come on This Morning – don’t jump on the bandwagon. If you want to take the moral high ground against someone ‘cashing in’ on their recent experiences, then don’t help them. You could have talked about the incident without getting Jade into the studio. How many more interviews will we have to watch before people let Jade fade into obscurity where she belongs?

You know Big Brother is doing badly when someone from The Mirror says that it’s time to stop:

Sue Carroll, a columnist from the Daily Mirror, said on BBC’s Breakfast News today:

“I think they should absolutely have to say “That’s enough” … They’ve plumbed the depths now. How much lower can it go?”

Yes, someone from The Mirror thinks that BB has gone too far, and has ‘plumbed the depths’.

Wouldn’t it be a dream if someone from The Sun (the trashiest British tabloid I can think of) came out and agreed with that? Not that it’s likely to make any difference in the long run. Channel 4 and Endemol don’t really care – they’re making shed loads of money and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

Well, I must admit I’m pleasantly shocked.

I made this statement in my post about Big Brother:

Skip Channel 4, and make it clear to their sponsors (Carphone Warehouse, I believe) that they should pull their support or you won’t give them your custom.

I didn’t honestly expect that the Carphone Warehouse would pull their support, but just hours later they did.

Let’s face it, whatever exactly is going on, and how people try to dress it up (read on), thirty thousand complaints can’t be ignored. Imagine if those people did boycott the Carphone Warehouse, and told their friends to? Let’s not pretend that CW’s concern isn’t motivated by money, though it would be nice to think they were showing a smidgen of Corporate Social Responsibility too.

As for Channel 4 – well they don’t seem to think there’s anything wrote with what’s happened. Of course not… they’ve gained at least a million viewers on what was a sinking ship before the controversy began.

People aren’t going to stop watching. Whether that’s right or not, it probably explains CEO Andy Duncan’s response:

“We are not going to pull the plug,” said chief executive Andy Duncan. “We cannot say with certainty that the comments directed at Shilpa have been racially motivated.”

Obviously, Andy. You’ve got yourself a winner, haven’t you? It wouldn’t be right to come out and say anything with certainty, would it? Like the bullying trio is painful, abhorrent viewing, with footage that is twisted by Big Brother’s editors to make a bad situation look worse.

You’ve certainly got your ’social experiment’, Andy. Put a manipulative woman and her mother in a house with someone of another race, who doesn’t do everything the way you think they should be done (having beauty, dignity, and intelligence are just three things you don’t have, Jade), and watch things explode.

Round two kicks off when all the house ‘mates’ leave the torture chamber.

I’m not going to spend a long time writing about this issue, as it’s being widely reported in both the British and Indian media, but I’m getting increasingly frustrated at how this issue is escalating, and at how some people will interpret it.

Here’s my thoughts on the whole issue:

• The “Big Brother” show is carefully set up by its makers to cause friction and unrest. It’s what (supposedly) makes ‘entertaining TV’. I’m sure the executives knew full well that putting this collection of ‘celebrities’ (of which Shilpa is surely the biggest, even if not well-known UK) would cause problems.
• I saw one of the evictees, Carol, describe Shilpa as incredibly strong – perhaps even the strongest person in the house. She could leave at any time if she wanted to, and whilst I don’t deny that things are unpleasant in there, she is obviously coping to a certain extent.
• The views of a few fading celebrities do not reflect the majority of British thinking – BB has received over 20,000 complaints to date from members of the public.
• I think there are at least hints of racism in what some of the other housemates are saying to and about Shilpa. At very least it’s bullying, and it’s nasty, but bear in mind that the people doing it are making themselves look stupid and ignorant.
• These issues are important, but at the same time everyone should step back and think. Despite all the protestations of Channel 4 and the makers of Big Brother, they must be absolutely loving this publicity. Let’s not give it to them. Britain and India have much more important things to discuss (I’m not saying that racism is unimportant). The inane rantings of Jade, Danielle, and some washed up girl from a ’90s pop group, really shouldn’t have that much influence.
• Channel 4 obviously can’t be bothered to get involved in the debate as they don’t even report the issues on their web page (and no I’m not going to link to it)

If you really want to make a statement (and unfortunately it would take a large number of peope to do it) then stop watching the programme (and all the other trash that Endemol put out – I’m sure we’ve had enough of “Deal or No Deal” by now anyway?). Skip Channel 4, and make it clear to their sponsors (Carphone Warehouse, I believe) that they should pull their support or you won’t give them your custom (not that I ever would anyway)

Not going to happen, is it?

I had hoped to write at least every second day on this blog about my freelance work and professional blogging, but last week was so busy that I just haven’t had a chance – what with wanting to maintain a little bit of life as well.

For anyone not into tech and who didn’t know, last week saw both the Consumer Electronics Show and the Macworld Conference and Expo, and whilst I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to attend either, I did blog a large proportion of it for Tech Digest and >HDTV UK, including live blogging Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation. Great week, but some fairly late nights given the extra work and the eight hour time difference.

I’m really enjoying writing for the Blog Herald, and starting to get into the flow of doing a daily post. You likely won’t be surprised to learn that I thrive on opinion posts, so long as I know something about the subject (or at least think I do). Hence, I’ve been having a bit of a go at certain portions of the traditional media who’ve been trashing blogs and bloggers (again).

It must’ve done some good, as I’ve been asked to write an article for the Press Gazette. This is pretty exciting, as it means some fairly influential people are reading the Blog Herald, have liked my work, and are willing to pay me to write more!

I’m considering running a Technorati battle between Tech Digest and the Blog Herald. From what I can tell, Tech Digest gets significantly more visitors, but the Blog Herald has more inbound links, hence its position some sixty or so positions above Tech Digest. BH hovers around the 600 mark whilst TD hovers around the 660 mark. Perhaps I love stats just a little too much.

I’ve redesigned the Family Relationships blog, cleaning up the design, adding keyword tags, and generally making it (hopefully) better for me and the other contributors to use, and visitors to read. It’s growing slowly in readership. This year I really want to plug a lot more relevant and topical content into it. Last week was a bad example of how to do that. This week – could do better. I’ll get there – it’s worth it.

I’ve really been enjoying take time out to observe the goings on in the garden. Since I’ve refilled the hanging bird feeders and put up the bird table, there are definitely more birds in the garden. Unfortunately the squirrels have also been attacking the feeders and sitting on the table. One of them chewed through the string (or possibly hung on the feeder until it snapped) so I relocated it and used some wire instead. Hopefully it’ll keep them away from the bird food.

They are quite cute, though, despite being a little irritating. There were two young squirrels darting around the garden today, play fighting, hopping over plant pots, and falling into the bird bath. Very funny. I must try to capture some video of them.

That’s all for now. Time for sleep.

Yes I’m a lazy wotsit, I’ll admit. I took a full two weeks away from all things blogging and writing related, and enjoyed Christmas (as much as you can with a stinky cold) and New Year with families.

I spent yesterday planning exactly what I was meant to be posting, and when, in a bid to be more organised than I felt I was towards the end of 2006. Part of the problem was fatigue, having not taken any significant holiday or break since I started freelance writing in July. That’s probably why I was ill and slept seemingly constantly for the first week of the Christmas holidays.

I’d conveniently forgotten the Consumer Electronics Show and Macworld that have descended upon West Coast America this week, and must be meticulously blogged at Tech Digest and HDTVUK. That meant extra posts, and mopping up news from one blog to another for completeness. There are plenty of staff and freelancers in Las Vegas at CES, but a contingent in London (and Manchester) helps to keep things rolling during their downtime.

Anyway, I got all but one post of my ‘contracted’ work complete today. I didn’t get time to write a detailed post on Techscape TV (which I think is in ’soft launch’ at present) though I did a Web 2.0 roundup for today.

I managed my second post over at the Blog Herald – my goal is to write a post every weekday there and given that I get paid per post, it’s worth it – so long as I don’t do drivel. I can save that for here…

What it does mean is that my personal projects are slipping once again, which is a little irritating. Ironically I would’ve had time to work on them towards the end of last week, when I was feeling ready to work again, and had decent web access (I had flaky, stolen wi-fi access at my parents’ house – yes I fess up to that one – it wasn’t decent enough to work from and I had to hold my laptop at funny angles to get any signal)

My plan is to write at least one post for the two established (and fee paying) blogs, as well as soft launch the third one that I think has potential. More on that when it happens. A fourth one could well drift into next week. Possibly…

I took a decent break today, which coupled with the extra work is probably why I worked longer at the end of the day. Part of the reason is that I took delivery of a self-assembly bird table mid-morning. No really. Just doing my bit for urban wildlife and all that. I put it up and filled it in the pizzling (nice) rain – that’s dedication. None of the little blighters have come to use it yet, but it’s ready for them when they’re starving and want a peanut or a bit of seed. Aren’t I kind? That’s if the squirrel doesn’t storm it first.

Well, that’s all for now. My plan is to update this blog with a collection of thoughts on work, life, and what’s happening in Britain and elsewhere, as and when I get time. Kind of how it used to be, before I got bored and deleted it all! I’ll try to rant less about blogging, too, as it got a bit wearisome from time to time.

Night.